Hand-propping goes awry

According to the pilot, when he attempted to start the Cessna 172B at the airport in Mt. Olive, N.C., “the battery was low.”

He exited the airplane, instructed the passenger to remain in the plane and how to turn the magnetos on and off, and he utilized the tail tie-down hook and secured the tail down with a rope on the ramp.

The pilot hand-propped the engine, it started, but he said the throttle was “too far in,” and the airplane accelerated forward.

The “old” tie-down rope broke, the airplane continued forward, and the passenger turned the magnetos to the “OFF” position. However, the plane hit a hangar and then came to rest.

The 172 sustained substantial damage to the firewall and right wing during the accident.

The NTSB determined the probable cause as the pilot’s failure to adequately secure the airplane before hand-propping the engine for startup.

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Comments

I remember about 40 or so years ago, at Hawthorne Airport south of the L.A., a guy had hand propped his Champ without being tied down. Being very light without a load on board the engine caught, the plane took off empty, and ended up crashing into the roof of a garage of a home not too far away across the street. I wonder how his insurance handled that one?

Dead batteries and rotten ropes will get you every time when you hand prop. Add a passenger who doesn’t know how to use the brakes or close the throttle and you have a recipe for something bad happening. At least he knew how to turn off the mag switch and no one was injured.

An old rope laying around on the ramp? If he had stood on it and pulled hard it probably would have snapped. Chocks, Parking Brake or Passenger with feet on the brakes and hand on throttle briefed to pull it back when engine catches? Was this Moe, Larry or Curly?

If you aren’t proficient with hand propping, don’t do it. So many get hurt or damage their planes hand propping. There is nothing dangerous about propping a plane if you know how and are practiced and proficient.

Totally agree! Since I DON’T get any practice hand propping, one of my personal minimums is that I will never even consider it as an option under any circumstance. As the saying goes “landing is mandatory, taking off is optional”.

‘Profiecient in hand propping’ has a nice sound, but ignores several factors in this accident: The aircraft was not safe to fly, nor did it meet its type certificate – hence it was not air worthy. The pilot exercised poor judgment. The pilot did not do an adequate pre-flight. The person at the controls was not a pilot. Do ‘proficient’ pilots enjoy a special immunity that allows them to operate unairworthy aircraft, train non-pilots to meet FAA certificatin standards in Part 61, do sloppy pre-flights, etc?